Бой 13 июня 1944 г. у Виллер-Бокаж

"Интервью"
Below is an interview with Bobby Woll, who served in Tigers from 1942 to 1945:

Q: Thank you for granting us your Time Herr Woll please could you tell us about your own experiences in the Tiger.

A: You're welcome. Well I recieved orders to transfer from my Stug in the Autumn of '42 to Paderborn for training on the new 88gun of the tiger. We basically sat in a mock up turret in the middle of a field & fire shells at wooden targets at various ranges along side me was a trainee loader Wille Schreff I think his name was. Anyway having had so much time in the static Stug where the driver did the targeting for me this was luxury. I found the gun sights far superior to anything else in the Army so hitting the targets was no problem. Even on the move.. Once I finished my training I was sent to Russia & given Tiger number 1331 along with Michael(Wittman) & we were sent to Kiev along with our new battalion. I will never forget our first engagement against the Red Army. Our Tiger had broken down 3 times on the road & Michael was really angry. I remeber him kicking the filters at the back & cursing the machine demanding that the mechanics scrap the thing & give us a new one. It seemed to work as we were given a new Tiger number S31 while the other one was fixed. I climbed in & got myself comfortable. While we drove up to the rest of our unit. It was quite warm in the tank even though it was October. Michael sighted a column of T-34's at about 3000 meters. We quickly went into battle order & radio'ed our sighting. I hit 3 T-34's at about 1500meters & then we turned to the guns the soviets were unpacking. Supported by Jurgen Brandt we fired 2 or 3 High Explosive shells right into the middle of the guns & knocked them out. By this time Michael was shouting targets & we were getting tired. The turret was starting to get very hot with all the work & the heat coming from the breech. I hit about another 8 tanks before we moved agin. The Russians weren't quite sure where we were as we were behind small hillocks firing a couple of rounds then edging up the side to hit them again. They must have been in shock because their tanks just sat there a while like the targets at Paderborn. I thought "this was too easy" It was then that a shell thumped off the front armour with a large clang sound. It didn't penetrate but we were all still quite shocked. I remember Heinz Kling came up & started mocking Michael about showing off. The Russian shell had knocked off some of our zimmerit & made a dent about the size of my fist right in the middle of the front armour. We were all relieved as had we been in a weaker tank it would have killed us all.

Q: According to records your tank destroyed 20 T-34's & 23 guns would you say that was correct ?

A: Ja that would be about right. We had special engineers that were there for salvage & it was them who normally told us the numbers. We then counted how many rounds we had fired & the position of the kills & worked it out. Actually it was more like 22 T-34's as there were 54 wrecked tanks left behind & I fired 25 AP rounds. As for the guns I wouldn't like to say as Jurgen fired more rounds at them then me & I think the total was around 40 destroyed I think he killed more than me.

Q : You recieved your Knights Cross on January 15th 1944 that must have been a proud moment for you.

A: It was actually the morning of the 16th when I was told I would be getting the Knights Cross. I was very proud as I was an enlisted man & to recieve such a high reward was a great honour. Michael was also delighted for me as he had got his 3 days earlier. Personally I think he was a bit jealous. By this time we were becoming quite famous back in Germany & were getting asked to do these propoganda things which was a nice break from the fighting.

Q: Do you think the other crews were envious of you & Michael ?

A: No not really, some of the older hands made comments but Michael normally shut them up. I just ignored them & got on with my job. The younger newer crewmen seemed to be over awed with our achievements but I told them that if we didn't kill the enemy first we would be dead & there were always more of them than us.

Q: You were in command of your own tank by the time of the Normandy battles how did that feel ?

A: I was quite sad to leave Michael & the others as we had formed quite a team & friendship. But on the other hand it was a proud moment for me. I tried to take all I had learned into my new tank which was number 335. I always remember our first battle was aginst some churchill tanks around the town of Bayeux. I remember wishing I was behind the gun. My new gunner was Gert Von Wend he was only 19 years old but he was quite good , well he had a good teacher! We managed to hit three of them before allied planes came in dropping bombs we retreated back into a small wood & hit two halftracked vehicles. The allies had many planes in the sky so we retreated as far as we could & camouflaged the tank. My other two comrades lost their taks to the bombs. It was quite different than the East when we could roam about looking for targets. We waited until dark before creeping away dragging half the wood with us. We had to be very careful as there were enemy tanks & infantry everywhere. By morning we were joined by a couple of Panzer IV's from Panzer Lehr which was in the area. We mounted an attack aginst a small column of light tanks & forced them back I think we destroyed 8 or 10 of them . It was then that my tank was hit by rockets from an Allied plane. I was very badly hurt & only the radio operator Hans Dremein got out alive. We were taken back to Germany to recover. It was then that I heard about Michael & his destruction of all those tanks at Villers-Bocage. I heard about it on the radio. I wished I had been with him. I was informed about Michaels death by a Major & Hildegard who came to visit me. She was in a terrible state I remember both of us embracing & weeping. I was told his tank was hit by a plane & he died instantly. After the war I heard reports that it was tanks that got him. I find this unbelievable as in all my time with him I never saw a tank get close enough to inflict a killing shot you see Michael had eyes everywhere & a sixth sense for danger. I still visit his grave today.

Q: It must have been a sad time for you. But you did return to action. A: Oh yes I was sent back to the front in a Tiger II for the Ardennes offensive but this tank broke down without me ever firing a shot. I got a Tiger I from Paderborn & fought around the Ruhr area before losing that one to an Anti tank gun that blew our track off & wrecked the drive sprocket. We were then given a Panzer IV which was a bit of an insult to us. I found that we were having to fire more shells to just stop targets at ranges that the Tigers gun would have blown them up. I remember all the useless engagements & battles we were ordered into with a couple of tanks or Stugs against entire enemy armoured divisions at this time it just seemed so pointless. We were at the stage of just giving up & surrendering but we had heard stories of prisoners being shot as they surrendered so we stayed with our tank. I found out after the war that this was common on the Russian Front rather than the West. I will always be thankful for the end of the war because I had had enough killing & destruction long before that day. I had lost most of my fellow comrades & good friends by the wars end it was a very sad time for us.

 

а возможно ли поделиться полной версией статьи, которую урезало м-хобби?

 

Новая книга по теме:

http://www.amazon.com/VILLERS-BOCAGE-Normandy-Henri-Marie/dp/2840482924/ref=wl_mb_hu_c_T2_41_dp

 

Вероятно это переиздание в мягкой обложке вот этой книги http://www.amazon.com/VILLERS-BOCAGE-Normandy-Henri-Marie/dp/2840481731/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_1 , которая уже давно стала раритетом и продаётся за "очень дорого" (см. цену по ссылке)

 

Ну, теперь то цена резко упадет

 

2 FlyDutch
повторю вопрос, так как ответа нету, а сайт ваш умер
полная версия статьи-исследования доступна для свободного распространения? можно ею с нами поделиться?

 

2 Judoc
Отвечаю только сейчас, потому что некоторое время был off-line.
Сайт не умер, просто материал про бой за Вильер-Бокаж был с него удален по причине, объясненной в ветке про книжки Барятинского.
В свободном доступе полной версии статьи нет и в ближайшем будущем не будет, поскольку этот материал является основой брошюры, над которой сейчас работаем. До выхода брошюры ни полностью, ни частично он выкладываться не будет. поскольку не хочется создавать новые прецеденты с заимствованием сырого материала, которое вместо того, чтобы вносить ясность, только больше запутывает людей, не погруженных в тему достаточно глубоко.